


Accidental Confessions

by Magnetism_bind



Category: 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Genre: Age Difference, Angst, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-18
Updated: 2014-07-18
Packaged: 2018-02-09 09:03:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1977009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magnetism_bind/pseuds/Magnetism_bind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the death of his father it was only a matter of time before Will caught up with Ben Wade again. Now after they've been riding together for a few months, Will lets something slip and Ben's not sure what happens next.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Accidental Confessions

**Author's Note:**

> Written for hushthenoise for the dialogue prompt "Can we pretend I didn’t just say that?"

If it had been during sex Ben would have paid it no mind. You can say anything in the heat of the moment, doesn’t mean it matters none. Will is gabbier than a lot of his previous partners. Still, it’s not so hard to shut him up just right, a stroke of Ben’s thumb over the delicate bones of his throat, a subtle pressure of Ben’s hips against his, his knuckles on Will’s cheek – these are the ways Ben knows to quiet Will. Gentle-like at least. 

There are rougher methods too, and there are times when Ben still cuffs him over the head. Will’s always going to be a hothead, always be young no matter how he grows up. Ben knows this.

But it’s not said during sex. Will says it on a hot afternoon while they’re watching a herd of mustangs graze in the valley. Horse dealing is more work than robbing stagecoaches, but it’s less inclined to get you hung. Ben has no yearning to see a noose around Will’s neck anytime soon.

He doodles the leader, a gray stallion with a white forelock, fingers skimming easily over the paper.

“You gonna draw them all afternoon or we gonna catch us some?”

“What would your mother say if she heard you talking like that?” Ben doesn’t look up from his sketch. He can tell Will’s rolling his eyes.

They didn’t talk about his parents much to begin with. Too sore to ease, too painful to fix. Except the first time, Will got dead drunk and started blubbering about missing his pa, and Ben had two options, he could run for the hills, or he could put his arms around Will and kiss him.

Ben Wade only ran when it was necessary.

Will had quieted under his touch, leaning his head against Ben’s chest, and then, oh, it had been so easy to stroke his fingers through the boy’s hair and tilt his head up.

That first time had been a little over six months ago and now here they are. Riding together, sleeping together. Will writes to his ma when they stop at a town where the post travels. Ben never asks what’s in the letters or what excuses he makes for running away less than a year after Dan was buried.

The gray stallion neighs and Ben watches it. It’s a fine animal and he imagine how it’ll be to gentle it. He starts to shove the tablet in his pocket.

“Can I have it?” Will asks, reaching out his fingers.

Ben shrugs and gives it to him. Will smoothes the paper with rough fingers, gazing at it almost hungrily. “You’re good at that.”

Ben shrugs again, his attention caught by the horse below. The next words are so quiet he barely hears what Will says next. Maybe he would have thought he’d imagined it if not for the nervous tension that takes Will immediately afterwards.

He looks up.

“Can we pretend I didn’t just say that?” Will’s eyes dart past him, looking anywhere but at him, like he’s trapped now, fearful of what Ben will say in response.

Ben just reaches for his reins. “Come on.” He makes no acknowledgement whatsoever. For now there’s a herd to corral and then there’ll be work to do.

At night it comes back to him. Will’s curled up on his bedroll, sound asleep. Ben can’t make out his freckles by the dim firelight, but he knows they’re there. He’s counted them on lazy mornings, wrapped in their bedrolls, kissed them until Will’s squirmed to get away.

Ben stretches out an arm behind his head and stares up at the starry sky overhead. He doesn’t know why he’s so sure Will said it by mistake, why he wants it to be just that. If it had been anything but an accident…

* * *

He wakes in the morning to see Will making coffee. Ben watches, drowsy-eyed and unwilling to move.

Will is more sure of himself than before, but he’s still young. He’ll grow. He’ll see more of the world. He’ll find better folk to love than Ben Wade. The thought shouldn’t make Ben’s chest ache like it does. Maybe he’s getting old.

He sits up, yawning.

“Coffee?” Will offers him a tin cup.

Ben accepts it, settling back in his bedroll as Will pours himself a cup as well. They should move on after breakfast, soon as they can get the horses corralled. But there are times Ben’s learned, that it’s okay to take a moment for yourself. This is such a moment.

He reaches for Will when the boy starts to pour more coffee, his fingers sliding up Will’s wrist.

Will watches him, breath half caught, eyes bright with amusement as he puts the kettle down. “Sure we have time?”

“We’ll make time.” Ben draws him down on the bedroll, reminding Will once again that he’s bigger, and older, and slightly more inclined to press his advantage. There’s a hitch in Will’s breath as Ben kisses him, his hands slipping around the boy’s thin shoulders.

“I meant it, you know.” Will whispers.

Ben freezes, drawing back to stare at him. Will pushes himself up on his elbows.

“I know you think I don’t, but I do.” Will looks up at him. “It doesn’t have to change anything, but,”

Ben winds his fingers through the boy’s hair and kisses him roughly then, just to shut him up. Oh, it changes things all right. It means Ben’s tied more tightly than before. It means they’ll have to work to make taming horses successful so he’s not tempted to turn to easier moneymaking ways. It means he can finally tell Will that he’s been sending money to the Evans ranch all this time, because there’s nothing else he could have done.

Will’s mouth is warm and responsive under his, tongue eager and quick.

There are a lot of things Ben’s heard in his lifetime, but he’s not sure he’s ever wanted anything as much as that murmured, careless ‘ _that’s why I love you’_ to be true.

 


End file.
